Road Traffic

(asked on 4th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the level of road traffic across England in the first two weeks of October (1) this year, and (2) in 2019; and what estimate they have made of the percentage of workers in England who returned to work in offices and other regular places of work in those two weeks this year rather than working from home.


Answered by
Baroness Vere of Norbiton Portrait
Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 9th November 2020

To monitor the use of the transport system during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Department publishes ‘Transport use by mode: Great Britain’ on a weekly basis. This includes an estimate of the change in traffic on Great Britain’s roads. The table below provides (1) the daily estimates for the first two weeks of October 2020. The figures are presented as a percentage of the road traffic on the same day of the week in the first week of February 2020. (2) Equivalent figures are not available for 2019.

The Office for National Statistics publishes ‘Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain’ on a weekly basis. The second table below presents the statistics on the percentage of working adults by location of work for the first weeks of October 2020.

Table A: Road traffic use as a percentage of the equivalent day in the first week of February 2020: Great Britain1

Date1

Cars

Light Commercial Vehicles

Heavy Goods Vehicles

All motor vehicles

01/10/2020

86%

98%

105%

89%

02/10/2020

87%

99%

102%

90%

03/10/2020

85%

100%

111%

87%

04/10/2020

86%

102%

116%

89%

05/10/2020

86%

103%

106%

91%

06/10/2020

84%

100%

105%

88%

07/10/2020

86%

101%

106%

90%

08/10/2020

84%

98%

104%

88%

09/10/2020

88%

100%

104%

91%

10/10/2020

91%

107%

114%

94%

11/10/2020

94%

113%

122%

98%

12/10/2020

85%

102%

106%

89%

13/10/2020

83%

100%

105%

88%

14/10/2020

84%

99%

106%

88%

15/10/2020

84%

99%

104%

88%

16/10/2020

88%

101%

104%

91%

Source: DfT Transport use by mode, Great Britain

1. Although daily data is being reported, direct comparisons of change should not be made between weekdays and weekends/bank holidays. For road traffic there is a different profile on weekend days compared to weekdays.

Table B: Proportion of working adults1 in Great Britain by location of work

30 Sept to 4 Oct

7 Oct to 11 Oct

14 Oct to 18 Oct

Both worked from home and travelled to work

14%

11%

11%

Travelled to work only

48%

54%

49%

Worked from home only

22%

23%

25%

Neither worked from home nor travelled to work – furloughed 2

2%

1%

1%

Neither worked from home nor travelled to work – other 3

15%

11%

14%

Source: ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, Great Britain

1. Base population for percentage: working adults. The working adult population is those that said they had a paid job, either as an employee or self-employed; or they did any casual work for payment; or they did any unpaid or voluntary work in the previous week.

2. Caution should be used when interpreting the furlough response categories as this is not a labour force survey. Official estimates on the levels of furloughing are available in 'Coronavirus and the latest indicators for the UK economy and society'.

3. The main reasons for respondents neither working from home nor travelling to work (other) in the past 7 days include temporary closure of business or workplace, on annual leave or sick leave, variable hours, being on maternity or paternity leave or being unable to work because of caring responsibilities.

4. Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.

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